Friday, 21 March 2014

BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) -- Israeli forces said in a statement on Friday that they had found a tunnel "built by Gaza terrorists" leading hundreds of meters into Israel earlier in the week, a day after Hamas officials downplayed the discovery.

"The exposure of this tunnel was based on intelligence, and boots on the ground in the vicinity of the Gaza security fence," Israeli army spokesman Lt. Col. Peter Lerner said in the statement.

The spokesman added that the tunnel "posed a direct link and threat to Israeli territory," and that it potentially could have enabled "Hamas terrorists to reach and harm Israeli civilians."

"In the past Gaza terrorists have utilized such tunnels to Israel for infiltration, detonation and abduction of Israeli citizens," he said.

The statement said that three such tunnels had been discovered by Israeli forces in 2013. more